Les Miles says he once had to eat cow tongue during a recruiting visit

Being a coach in the SEC isn’t easy. Aside from all the pressure that comes with having to figure out the X’s and O’s of coaching against some of the toughest competition in the country, there are also the challenges of recruiting. And with recruiting comes sitting down to dinner at a recruit’s house, which can lead to having to scoff down some pretty strange stuff.

As part of their Playbook SEC Coaches’ Questionnaire for the upcoming college season, ESPN asked every head coach in the SEC what the weirdest thing they have been served during a recruiting visit was. Most said they have enjoyed all of their meals or enjoyed watching their assistants struggle through them, but LSU head coach Les Miles had a story that stood out.

“I had cow tongue,” Miles said. “It was a dessert, and it was in Louisiana. It was pickled. And it looked just like a cow tongue. In fact, it was cow tongue and cow lips, for that matter. Everybody took a little sliver. Kind of chopped it up good. And… it tasted pretty good. It really wasn’t all that bad. It was kind of a little briny. But, you know, I kind of enjoyed it.”

You know how jokes can sometimes write themselves? If you remember, this is the same guy who has admitted he eats grass and has inspired other college coaches to try it. Of course he enjoyed eating pickled cow tongue.